


Clouds

by PrisonersDilemma



Category: Bob's Burgers (Cartoon)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:22:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24529087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrisonersDilemma/pseuds/PrisonersDilemma
Summary: Bob and Linda fluff from when Tina was a baby.
Relationships: Bob Belcher/Linda Belcher
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29
Collections: Fandom 5K 2020





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sandyk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/gifts).



“Bob can you come help me with these boxes? What are you doing up there?” Linda yelled up the stairs at Bob who was making an unprecedented amount of grunting noises followed by the squeaking of something scraping against the floor. 

“Just-ah-just a second Linda, I’ll be right down” Bob hollered back followed by more grunting and wheezing. 

“You better not be trying to move that couch by yourself Bobby.” Linda started walking up the stairs. “I don’t want you hurting yourself, maybe we should ask the neighbors for help…” Finally, she got to the living room where she saw Bob covered in sweat, pushing the couch towards the middle of the room. 

“No, we aren’t asking the neighbors Linda. That guy across the street gives me bad vibes and there’s no way I’m going into a funeral home to ask for help moving a couch.”

Linda went to sit on the highly contested piece of furniture. “Well maybe you shouldn’t have told the movers they could leave so soon. We could have had them help a little more before they left.” Bob moved around to the front of the couch, sitting next to Linda as they both stared at the wall. “Listen Bobby, we’re supposed to be in this together. There’s no shame in asking for help.” She leaned against him mindlessly running patterns with her finger along his thigh. 

“I know, but with the baby coming I don’t want you straining yourself too much.”

Linda rolled her eyes. “Pushing a couch isn’t going to hurt our baby. I’m not that far along, it’s only been three months… but if you insist on being overprotective why don’t you go pick up some ice cream for me.”

“Linda are you serious, we have so much work to do and you want ice cream? While our stuff is still outside?”

“It’s for the baby. Don’t you care about the baby?” Linda pouted expectantly. 

Sighing, Bob stood up. “Of course I care about you and the baby, Give me ten minutes.”  
Linda smiled. “I love you Bobby”

“I love you too sweetie.”


	2. Horses and Baby Blankets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Linda buys a baby blanket and makes a new friend. :)

“Linda, I need your help with customers. Can you come downstairs?” Bob yelled up at his wife who it seemed like hadn’t left her room in days. 

“Just a second Bobby, I need to respond to Julie about a baby blanket I ordered.” She hollered back down. 

“Linda I seriously need help. Can’t it wait until after closing?” After several minutes with no response, Bob returned to the grill. Ever since Tina was born Linda had become obsessed with doing everything the “right” way. She needed all the new parenting books. She needed all the right products, and she needed to consult with what seemed like every other mom on the planet about each and every tiny detail. 

It was only after the lunch rush was over that Linda came downstairs holding Tina. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come down sooner Bobby, but you know one of us needs to stay with Tina.”

“She was taking a nap Lin. We have baby cameras everywhere, we would be able to see if she needed something. I’ve got everything handled now, but I need a few ingredients from the store, if you could go pick them up?”

Linda shifted Tina from one hip to the other as she stood watching her husband do the dishes. “Alright Bobby, I just came downstairs to tell you that I need to pick up a baby blanket I ordered from Julie. They’re all handmade and this one has horses on it, oh - can you imagine how cute it will be?”

Bob paused and turned around to look at Linda who was standing on the customer side of the counter while he rinsed plates to go in the dishwasher. “You bought another blanket… without even knowing what it looked like?”

“Of course I know what it looks like, it has horses Bobby. She just hasn’t finished making it yet. She said she should be done by the time I come over. We’re going to meet in a park outside her house and let the kids have a little playdate!”

“Tina can’t even crawl yet how are they going to play together?”

“Use your imagination Bobby! It’s good to let her get some fresh air. And don’t you worry I’ll make sure to get everything on your list.” Linda smiled and walked towards the door. “I’ll be back soon.” With the door shut behind her, she walked to the car where she opened the trunk and took out Tina’s stroller. Once Tina was secure inside the stroller, she began to walk, following the directions she’d written down on a post-it-note.

Finally she arrived at a very humble looking house in the suburbs only about a 30 minute walk away and rang the doorbell. The woman who answered had a look that seemed to match her house perfectly. She looked tired and held a baby that looked only a few months older than Tina, while a toddler stumbled around behind her. “Oh you must be Linda. Please come in.” She smiled weakly as Linda picked up Tina and entered the house. “Are you sure you want to leave your stroller in the yard?” Julie asked, hesitating to close the door.

“Yeah it’s fine. I’m not worried about it.” Linda walked in and looked around at the horrible mess covering the room. Toys were scattered everywhere along with old bottles and plates of half finished food. Crayon art covered the walls and only some portions were haphazardly painted over. 

Julie laughed awkwardly. “Sorry for the mess. The kids can be a bit of a handful-” Before she could finish her sentence a child started crying in the other room. “Oh my goodness, not again Joey-” Julie stumbled to the kitchen, narrowly avoiding legos and dolls. Linda followed hesitantly to see where another toddler sitting at a high chair had spilled food all over the ground. Julie put her baby down in a car seat on the table and ran to get paper towels to clean up the mess. 

“Did you need any help with that? Let me get some more paper towels.” Linda offered before trying to grab some with her left hand while holding Tina with her right. 

“No, no. That’s quite alright. Don’t worry about it. This happens all the time. Joey is such a messy eater, I’m totally used to it. Sorry you had to come while the house is like this, I tried to clean up a little, but well…” She gestured towards the mess. “Clearly that didn’t work. It’s nice to finally meet you though! It’s always great to make new mom friends. I just finished the blanket, it’s in that box on the coffee table.”

Linda walked over to the coffee table, once again dodging the toys littering the ground. Opening the box revealed the cutest baby blanket she’d ever seen and Tina obviously thought so too, immediately grabbing it with her chubby little hands. Linda laughed in surprise looking down at Tina. “Looks like she likes it. How much do I owe you?” Linda asked as she reached for the wallet in her back pocket.

“It was thirty-” before Julie could finish, Linda was handing her a wad of what was about $53 in cash. After counting is all, Julie looked like she was about to cry. “You really don’t have to do that.”

Linda just smiled. “Tina loves it and you did such a good job, I can’t imagine how with all these kids keeping you so busy.”

“It really is a struggle… My partner is always at work trying to support us which I appreciate, but I never get to see them anymore and I’m basically taking care of the kids all by myself. That’s actually the first blanket I’ve sold, I’m so glad you like it. I thought I needed a hobby and maybe if I made some money Sam wouldn’t have to work such long hours. Ah- I’m sorry for rambling, did you have time to come to the park with me and the kids? If not I totally understand.”

“Of course I’d love to go to the park! Do you want my help with anything before we go?”

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do anything more.” It took nearly an hour to get all the children ready to go with strollers and sunscreen, but finally they were walking and talking on their way to the park. “Linda, how do you manage?”

“What do you mean?” Finally at the park, Linda took out a picnic blanket from under the stroller and put it on the ground before sitting down with Tina as Julie followed suit. 

“You own a restaurant right? Isn’t that stressful with the baby?” Julie gestured to Tina. 

“Yeah, but Bobby does most of the work while I take care of Tina.”

Looking surprised, Julie turned towards her. “Your husband runs the entire restaurant on his own? Isn’t it busy?”

“Well… He does ask for my help, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving Tina all by herself and we can’t have her kitchen or hire somebody to watch her. Besides, Bobby does a great job on his own, I’m sure he’s fine. I would think that you have a much more difficult time with four kids. One is hard enough for me I can’t imagine more, at least not yet.” Julie sighed and the two sat in a pleasant silence. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was a beautiful mess of pinks, oranges, and blues as the children played. The babies sat contentedly and an assortment of people walked along the paths in couples, with dogs, friends, or by themselves. Linda briefly thought that this would be a nice moment to share with Bob, when suddenly she remembered. “Julie I am so sorry but I need to get going. I just remembered I promised my husband I would go pick up some ingredients he asked for.” Reaching for where her phone usually would be, she realized she had forgotten to grab it before she left. “Thank you so much for the blanket again, we should meet up more often.” Grabbing Tina and pushing her into the stroller she dashed to the supermarket. Panting and sweaty she pulled the now mangled list from her pocket.

Finally entering the store, Linda grabbed a basket and immediately walked to the fresh produce area. She was in the process of grabbing an onion when she heard someone yell her name from across the grocery store. Turning, she dropped the onion back into the bin in surprise. Bob waved from the check out where he had clearly just finished shopping. Feeling guilty, Linda walked over and waved.

“I’m so sorry Bobby, I meant to come to the store earlier but I lost track of time with Julie and…” 

Bob sighed. “You can’t just leave without your cell phone Lin. What if something had happened to you and Tina? I was starting to get worried.”

“I was just so excited to make another mom friend. Look at the blanket I got for Tina.” She gestured to the stroller and Bob looked down.

Smiling slightly, he knelt down to Tina. “Hey sweetie, do you like your new blanket?” Tina grinned and made a sound somewhat between a gargle and a giggle, getting drool all over her face. Bob’s smile grew a bit wider before standing up and trying to look dignified. “It seems like Tina likes it huh?” 

Linda just nodded.


	3. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bob and Linda talk

“I know you already went to the park today, but do you want to walk through again on our way home?” Bob asked Linda once they were both outside the store with groceries hanging off the back of the stroller. 

“Sure, that sounds nice,” Linda replied and they were off. It had gotten much darker, but that meant it was also much cooler. “I've missed this"

"Me too. You realize though, that we could close sooner if you helped me in the restaurant more often..." Bob stopped walking and walked to a nearby bench where he sat and looked up at the moon.

"I’m sorry Bobby, but you know we can’t just leave Tina upstairs all the time and I don’t feel safe keeping her with us in the kitchen until she’s older. It’s probably a health hazard or something."

"I know, but we bought all those expensive baby cameras and I really need you during the lunch rush. And, I miss you Lin. I feel like I never see you anymore." The moon sparked brightly in the sky, surrounded by twinkling stars only slightly dulled by light pollution. The breeze was pleasant and for a moment the couple felt young again. 

“I’ll try to help out more during the lunch rush. Maybe soon we can get a crib to put between the window and the counter. It’s not too close to anything hot or any food and we’d be able to watch her. Then again, I’m not sure that customers want a crib in their restaurant.”

“We could always send her to a daycare.”

“A daycare? Bobby, do you know how expensive daycares are, we could never afford one.” 

“Actually I’ve been doing some research and I found one we could send her to, only for a few days a week right now, but it’s doable.”

Linda looked down at Tina who had thankfully fallen asleep. “I’m not sure Bobby, we could always ask your sister if she’d be willing to babysit too. I know you don’t like that idea but-”

“The daycare is really nice Lin. I think you’d be surprised. It’s the cheapest in the area, but it’s very highly rated. The pictures on the website looked great. How about tomorrow, you and I close the restaurant and take Tina with us for a tour? We could even go for a picnic or something too.”

“Ooo, Bobby, when did you get so romantic?” Linda smiled with excitement. “That sounds wonderful, but don’t we need a reservation or something?” 

Bob looked a bit sheepish as he responded, “I may have already made the appointment.” He scratched the back of his head and looked away.

“Wow you’re really taking charge huh? Well, let’s do it then! We’ll have a fabulous picnic too, I’m already excited! Who knew you were such a romantic.”

“If you say so. Hey it’s getting dark. Why don’t we head back home? The tour is at eight so we should leave the house by seven thirty.”

Linda nodded in response and the couple walked arm in arm through the park back to the house. The mosquitoes had unfortunately gotten a bit nippy to their dismay, but once the two were in bed together, they fell asleep almost instantly. Unfortunately their rest did not last long as less than twenty minutes later they awoke to Tina’s crying, but once Tina was put to sleep again the couple slept peacefully until morning.


	4. Daycare and Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bob and Linda tour a daycare and watch a movie.

Linda awoke to Bobby getting dressed as he opened drawers searching for the right pair of pants. Yawning, Linda smiled. “You’re looking handsome today.”

Bob turned around. “Good morning Lin. Have you seen my nice pants? I want to make a good impression on our tour.”

Linda shook her head and got up, walking towards the crib where Tina was watching the exchange. Picking Tina up, Linda felt determined to take the day in stride. After getting ready for the day, they were off and running less than 10 minutes late which they both considered a success. When they finally arrived at the daycare. It was in a suburban neighborhood very close to their house and Linda was surprised she hadn’t noticed it before. Then again, it looked almost identical to all the other houses surrounding it. It was quite large and had a lovely porch with screens protecting it. There were red and green bushes surrounding it and a little blue flag covered in flowers indicating the side door as the entrance. Before they opened the door, Linda peeked over the fence into the backyard where she saw a very cute looking play structure and an assortment of other equipment like a swing set and a little plastic slide for younger kids. There were two young women and several children and babies either playing, sitting, or being held. Not wanting to seem like a creep, the two quickly went back to the door and twisted the knob.

When they tried to open the door, Linda immediately realized it was locked. Maybe it would be a safe place for Tina… So the couple knocked on the door and waited until a very friendly looking young woman answered the door. “Hi! Are you here for a tour? My name is Allie. It’s nice to meet you.” She stuck her hand out and Linda shook it happily. The girl had short dirty blonde hair and looked like her childhood dream job was to be a mom or a teacher. She had a natural care giving aura about her that made Bob and Linda feel immensely comfortable as they made brief eye contact with each other.

“I’m Linda and this is my husband Bob. The little one is named Tina.”

Allie just smiled even more, leaning down to Tina. She reached her hand out and shook Tina’s little baby hand with a careful enthusiasm. “It’s very nice to meet you Tina.” Standing up again, she addressed Bob and Linda. “If you’ll follow me to the rug, we’re starting with a little information session about the daycare and our values before we do the tour. We’re a very small daycare, but that just means we love our children even more. As you can see, there’s not much to tour anyways.” Although the house was quite large, the stairs were blocked off with a sign that said staff only and there seemed to be three sections downstairs that were all easily connected. All the doors had been removed to make room for larger entrance ways and more space so everything was together. To the right of the door was a napping area and to the right was a little table with lots of shelves of toys. Past that was a rug and more toys. Linda was amazed that somehow they all managed to stay where they were supposed to instead of just covering the floors.

There were two other couples sitting on the rug already when the Belchers went to sit down. Both looked very friendly and Linda was excited to make some new friends, but before she could say anything, Allie walked over. “Thank you all so much for coming. I’m super excited that you’ve shown an interest in our daycare. This tour will only last an hour but feel free to stick around a little longer if you have any questions.” She then asked them all to share their names and a bit about themselves. The other two couples were named Charlie and Colton with a daughter named Sarah and Vanessa and Damian with a baby boy named Simon. 

The information session left each couple feeling safe and confident. Allie talked about weekly themes as learning opportunities to focus on specific topics for the older children, story times, drama productions by older kids and learning through music and art which Linda especially liked. They had half day schedules which sounded appealing and much cheaper than the full day option. Even better than that they even had a flexible scheduling policy to accommodate parents with a less traditional work schedule. The tour was not very long because the space was so small and compact. By the end of the tour, the couple was nearly ready to make the $50 deposit and they walked home happy to prepare for their picnic. 

“What did you think?” Bob asked Linda and he pushed Tina in her stroller towards their apartment. 

“I loved it Bobby, it was just perfect! Her speech was so nice. I can’t wait for Tina to make so many new friends. The other couples just seemed so nice and Allie loved my idea for a toddler production of Cats. Wouldn’t it be adorable to see all the kids in little cat costumes? Tina will love it here, I’m sure.” 

“Well she’s still very young, it might be awhile before she makes any close friends.”

“Oh but Bobby, cute little baby friends are the best. Maybe she’ll meet a nice little boy and they’ll fall in love! Bobby, she could meet her future husband at this daycare! That would be such a cute story. Think of the romance! Think of the story and the cute baby pictures!”

Bob almost laughed. “Okay, sure that might be cute. What do you want for our picnic?”

“Hmm, maybe sandwiches? And a fruit salad?” Once the couple arrived back at home, Bob started preparing sandwiches while Linda fed Tina. Once they were both ready, they took the picnic basket, Tina, and the stroller and left for the park. It wasn’t long until they found a nice grassy hill close to where they had sat next to each other the night before. They ate in contemplative silence for a while and Linda knew they were going to be okay. Together they watched children climbing on playground equipment nearby and all sorts of different people enjoying the park, just as they were. Once they were done eating, the two continued to sit and stare up at the sky until Bob reached over to grab Linda’s hand and they both laid down to watch the clouds. “Maybe we should have another one?”

“What?”

Linda turned over so she was on her side, facing her husband. “Wouldn’t it be nice if Tina had somebody to play with? She could babysit when she’s old enough too.”

“We can barely afford daycare for one kid, why do you think we could handle two?”

“I don’t know Bobby, but I think we should have three kids one day. That sounds nice,” Linda explained before returning to laying on her back. 

“I think more kids would be amazing too Lin, but we can’t afford it right now.” Bob looked sadly towards Tina. 

They remained silent for several moments until Linda reached up to the sky and traced meaningless patterns in the air with her finger. “What do you think that cloud looks like,” she asked pointing to a random blob of cloud.

“Huh?” 

“What does that cloud look like?” 

“Maybe a fish? Or a hat? A submarine? I don’t know. Why?”

“See, exactly. You don’t know. If you don’t know what a cloud in the sky looks like Bobby, how come you think you know what our future looks like? We could be okay. We always manage to get through together.” She lowered her arm and looked at Bob again. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tina chose that moment to start crying and the two immediately went to pick her up. “I think she’s tired.”

“Yeah, we should probably get home.” The two were walking hope with a sniffling Tina in the stroller when Linda heard someone yell her name. Turning around, Tina saw Julie waving at her and pushing two strollers filled with children.

“Hey Linda! Is this your husband? Nice to meet you I’m Julie.” She stuck out her hand and Bob shook it, introducing himself. “I was going to come eat at your restaurant, but I saw it was closed, is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, we just thought we’d take the day off to visit a daycare and get some time together.”

“Aw that’s so nice! I wish my partner would do stuff like that with me. Which daycare did you tour?” 

Linda answered and they all chatted for a while until both Tina and the other children got upset at the lack of movement and they separated. Bob spoke up. “She seemed nice. She’s the one that made Tina’s baby blanket right?”

“Yeah! Isn’t it just perfect too? Us parents need to stick together. She’s such a doll. I want to set up more play dates with her kids and Tina.”

Bob just hummed approvingly and they kept walking until finally they reached the house and carried Tina up the stairs to her crib where Linda sang her a song to go to sleep. It wasn’t the most conventional or beautiful song, but Tina seemed to like it and soon she was fast asleep and Linda smiled down at her, tucking her in. Turning the lights off, she walked into the living room where Bob was watching a movie. “What are you watching?” She sat down beside him and stared at what looked like an old cowboy movie.

“Not sure. This was just on and it looked good.” Leaning against Bob, Linda scrunched up her nose. 

“Well let’s watch something together. I wanna watch something romantic, or a musical! I was reading about this one called Lucky Stiff, I think it’s on tonight. I heard it has murder, romance, and dogs!” Bob just made a grunting noise, but Linda had already taken the remote and changed the channel. It wasn’t long before she was singing along with the music. “When you say ooh, ooh, ooh, I answer ah, ah, ah! You whisper ooh, la, la, and I go-” She stood up, pulling Bob with her as she danced around. “Then you say mm, mm, mm, and I go ah, ah, ah-” She laughed and twirled Bob around as they sang and danced together. “I need a boa for this song!” Suddenly, Linda remembered she actually did have a boa and she ran to the closet. She spent the rest of the song dancing with her boa and channeling her inner star. When the song was over they both collapsed to the sofa smiling and laughing. 

They were having a fantastic time as Linda laughed and sang along to the movie and Bob smiled at seeing his wife so happy and enthusiastic. At the end of Act 1, Bob left during commercials to make some popcorn. The second half of the movie was just as enjoyable as the first. When it was over, they turned off the TV and just sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company once again while Linda mindlessly picked loose feathers off her boa. “I’m surprised we didn’t wake Tina up with all the singing,” Bob remarked while playing with Linda’s hair. “She’s a deep sleeper.”

Linda just laughed. “Well it’s definitely not from my side of the family. It’s probably your influence, you sleep like a log.”

Bob chuckled at that. “That’s true.” It was at that moment Bob had a moment of clarity and mumbled, “maybe we should try again.”

Linda looked up at him with wide eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah, I mean hey we’ve survived this much. What’s one more kid? We’ll just have to pick the smartest one to go to college and the other can take over the restaurant. We’ll have to cut back on a few things but-” Linda cut him off with a kiss.  
Leaning back, Linda responded. “Let’s go make another baby. We can think about logistics later.” She kissed him again, but Bob pulled away this time.

“That sounds great, but Tina is asleep in our room right now. We really need to start moving her to the nursery.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t want her too far away while we’re asleep Bobby… Besides who says we have to go to our room?”

“Good point.”


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new member of the family arrives

One year later and Bob was holding Linda’s hand as she went into labor for the second time. Tina was waiting just outside with a nurse and Linda groaned in pain until finally there was a sense of relief as their son was born. Covered in sweat and various other fluids, her and the baby were cleaned up until Tina could come inside and see her baby brother for the first time. Bob picked up Tina so she could see her little brother and the entire family radiated joy. 

After a few days Linda was allowed to return home. She laid on the couch while holding Gene and watching Tina run and wobble around the house with her dad. They were playing some sort of a make believe game with stuffed horses and dolls. Watching her and Bob play together was wonderful and Linda knew her life was perfect. Tina was making a valiant attempt at galloping noises that sounded more like cars than a horse while Bob brushed a doll’s hair.

Gene was sleeping peacefully which Linda was very grateful for. So far he had been much noisier and needier than Tina ever was.

Eventually, Tina got tired of galloping and sat down at the coffee table to color some pictures with crayons. Bob walked over to examine his daughter's picture, but she hid it from him, instead running over to present it to Linda. She pointed at the picture and said “Mama!” displaying a very rough but heartfelt rendition of her mother holding Gene on the couch. 

Smiling, Linda responded. “Oh wow it’s beautiful. Why don’t you have your father put it up on the fridge.” Grinning, Tina nodded and went over to Bob, shoving the picture into his lap so he would put it on the fridge.

After displaying the picture, Bob made dinner for the family and put Tina to bed which Linda was extremely grateful for. It took a while to get Gene to quiet down as well but eventually the house was silent which had become a rare occurrence since the two children entered their lives. Out of nowhere, Linda laughed quietly. “So Bobby, when do you want to have the next one?”

He snorted in response, and turned over. “Let’s give it a year or two.”

Linda nodded quietly, although Bob didn’t notice. He had already fallen asleep, an ability which Linda envied, but she still smiled. She really, truly had the perfect life. Finally the couple fell into a peaceful sleep filled with happiness and love for each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't really the sort of story I usually write so it was a little bit of a struggle, but I think I like how it turned out and I hope you do too!


End file.
